Total Plans To Add EV Charging Stations To Its Gas Station Network In France

Originally published on CleanTechnica.

The France-based oil company Total will be adding electric vehicle charging stations to its extant petrol/gasoline station network in France, the company’s CEO Patrick Pouyanne recently revealed.

The move is presumably part of France’s wider push to deal with the extensive air pollution problems impacting some parts of the country (the Paris metropolitan region, in particular).

Pouyanne made the electric vehicle (EV) station buildout comments while at the recent SER renewable energy conference in Paris. He stated: “We plan to do it. We are thinking of how to equip our stations with electric charging points.”

Reuters noted in its coverage that Total was aiming to install more or all of the EV charging stations in question outside of major city centers, according to Pouyanne. The firm is apparently also in talks with the auto manufacturer PSA.

Pouyanne continued: “Our plan consists of looking at how to create a charging point network around French highways to have charging points every 150 or 160 km (100 miles).”

He then noted that there was definitely demand for this from customers.

Pouyanne concluded: “We are preparing the investment for it.”

The company is apparently targeting a buildout of 300 stations — initially, anyways.

In related news, the capital city of Paris recently launched a new electric van-share pilot program — which is intended to, at least partly, help reduce the city’s substantial air pollution problems. As we reported previously, the city’s air pollution problems have been growing rapidly in recent years, leading to a number of notable policy shifts.

Photo of electric cars charging by Raphael Desrosiers, with modifications by Mariordo (CC BY 2.0 license)

Reprinted with permission.

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